SUMMARY:
Regional Sales Manager – DIY / Hardware Retail - Johannesburg
POSITION INFO:
The Regional Sales Manager is responsible for driving sales growth, product ranging, merchandising standards, promotional execution and customer development across DIY, hardware and related retail customers within the assigned region. This is a hands-on, field-based sales management role requiring regular store visits and direct involvement at store level. The Regional Sales Manager will lead, support and develop a regional team comprising two Sales Representatives and one Field Sales Representative, while also personally engaging customers, store management and relevant buying personnel. A key responsibility is ensuring that market intelligence, ranging opportunities, competitor activity and store-level execution issues are communicated back to the National Sales Manager, enabling effective national key account negotiations, ranging discussions and promotional activation. Main Functions and Responsibilities Regional Sales Management Take responsibility for achieving regional sales, volume, distribution and growth objectives. Manage regional sales performance against agreed targets, budgets and priorities. Develop regional sales plans aligned with national sales and key account strategies. Identify underperforming customers, stores, territories and product categories and implement corrective action. Maintain a strong physical presence in the market and regularly accompany Sales Representatives on customer and store visits. Ensure the sales team focuses its time on activities that generate measurable sales, ranging and distribution improvements. Store-Level Sales and Execution Conduct regular store visits to assess product availability, ranging, merchandising and promotional execution. Negotiate with store management for improved shelf space, product positioning, secondary displays and promotional space. Ensure agreed planograms, displays, promotional activities and merchandising standards are correctly implemented. Identify out-of-stock situations, stockholding issues, incorrect pricing and poor product positioning and ensure corrective action is taken. Check that promotional stock is available and correctly displayed for the duration of promotional activity. Ensure products are clean, correctly priced, visible and professionally presented. Identify opportunities for additional displays, cross-merchandising, gondola ends and other high-visibility positions. Work closely with store personnel to improve product visibility and maximise sales opportunities. Product Ranging and Distribution Growth Drive the expansion of the company''s product range within existing customers and individual stores. Identify products and SKUs not currently ranged that are appropriate for specific customers or store profiles. Present and motivate ranging opportunities based on customer requirements, consumer demand, competitor activity and sales potential. Identify gaps in distribution and develop plans to increase listings and availability. Track new listings to ensure that agreed products actually reach the shelf and remain correctly ranged. Identify opportunities to introduce new products, categories, pack sizes or promotional offerings. Customer Relationship Development Build strong working relationships with store managers, department managers, buyers, franchisees, owners and other relevant customer personnel. Understand individual customer and store requirements and identify opportunities to grow mutually beneficial business. Resolve operational and service-related issues quickly and professionally. Maintain regular contact with key regional customers and decision-makers. Strengthen relationships at store level to support broader national key account relationships. Ensure customer commitments are followed through and that service standards are maintained. Promotional Activity Drive regional implementation of national and customer-specific promotional programmes. Negotiate additional promotional opportunities at regional and store level where appropriate. Ensure promotional stock, displays, pricing and merchandising are implemented correctly and on time. Monitor promotional performance and identify opportunities to improve future campaigns. Provide feedback on promotional effectiveness, competitor promotions and customer response. Ensure the regional sales team understands promotional objectives and executes campaigns consistently across the territory. Market Intelligence and National Key Account Support An important component of the position is acting as the link between what is happening at store level and national sales\/key account strategy. The Regional Sales Manager will: Gather relevant market, customer and competitor information during store and customer visits. Identify ranging gaps, lost listings, new product opportunities and competitor gains. Report competitor pricing, promotional activity, displays, new product introductions and merchandising initiatives. Identify differences between nationally agreed programmes and actual store-level execution. Provide the National Sales Manager with factual feedback that can be used during national key account negotiations. Supply supporting information on potential ranging opportunities, including evidence of customer\/store demand where available. Highlight recurring execution problems requiring intervention at national or head-office level. Provide feedback following national ranging agreements to confirm whether products have been successfully listed, stocked and merchandised at store level. Support national activation programmes by ensuring regional and store-level implementation. Act as the eyes and ears of the National Sales Manager in the field, ensuring that national discussions are supported by current and accurate information from customers and stores. Sales Team Leadership Direct reports: 2 x Sales Representatives 1 x Field Sales Representative Responsibilities include: Set clear sales, customer, ranging, merchandising and activity expectations for each team member. Conduct regular field visits with team members and provide practical coaching while calling on customers. Monitor call cycles, customer coverage and productive selling activity. Review individual sales performance and identify areas requiring corrective action. Coach representatives in selling, negotiation, ranging presentations and relationship management. Ensure representatives do more than simply \"call on\" stores and instead actively identify and close sales opportunities. Hold the team accountable for agreed actions and follow-up. Develop the capability of the sales team through ongoing coaching, product knowledge and practical field training. Key Performance Areas Performance should be measured against a combination of: Regional sales growth and achievement against target. Growth within existing customers. New product listings and increased SKU ranging. Distribution and store coverage. Shelf-space and display improvements. Promotional execution. Merchandising standards. Reduction in out-of-stocks. Customer relationship development. Quality and frequency of store visits. Sales team performance and development. Identification and conversion of store-level opportunities. Quality of market intelligence supplied to the National Sales Manager. Execution of national key account agreements at regional and store level. Ideal Candidate Profile The successful candidate should be a commercially driven, hands-on field sales manager who understands that strong retail sales performance is achieved at store level. The person should be comfortable moving between managing and coaching a sales team, negotiating with customers, walking the shop floor, checking shelves and displays, identifying ranging gaps and personally driving opportunities through to implementation. The role requires someone who can see both sides of the sales function: the detail of what is happening on the shop floor and the broader commercial picture required to support national customer negotiations. Previous experience within DIY, hardware, building materials, home improvement, FMCG or a comparable retail channel would be highly advantageous. The successful candidate should demonstrate strong: Field sales management experience. Retail and store-level commercial awareness. Negotiation skills. Merchandising and promotional execution knowledge. Customer relationship management. Product ranging and distribution development experience. Team leadership and coaching ability. Commercial judgement and opportunity identification. Reporting and market intelligence capabilities. Ability to translate national strategy into effective store-level execution. Salary offer: Negotiable This is not a desk-based regional management position. The successful candidate will be expected to spend a significant proportion of their time in the field, with customers and alongside the sales team, ensuring that sales opportunities identified on paper are converted into visible results on the shop floor.
